In Absence of a Father
by DancerInTheDark101
Summary: Set before Season 2. Ben falls sick. Hal steps up and becomes the father figure to take care of him. Part 2 of trilogy.


Part two! I was gonna post this a bit later, but I finished it and decided to upload it now. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to check out the other parts! Part one – In Absence of a Mother is up now.

The next chapter of Two Sides of the Same Coin is currently with my beta. Will hopefully be up soon!

Oh, and thanks everyone! I'm now on 100 faves as an author! You guys rock :D

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**IN ABSENCE OF A FATHER**

_**DancerInTheDark101**_

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_Set before Season 2. Ben falls sick. Hal steps up and becomes the father figure to take care of him._

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-FALLING SKIES-

Hal brushed his hand against his brother's forehead again, sweeping back the sweat-slicked hair before gently resting it against his flushed skin. Ben moaned lowly before leaning into the cool touch, his eyes still closed. The older sibling let his hand trail down Ben's face, his fingertips lightly tracing the markings of a bruise on his cheek.

He was hot. His younger brother was swathed in layers of blankets, tucked right up to his chin and wrapped around him so tightly it was like a cocoon. His cheeks were flushed red and his breathing was shallow. But even so, Ben was still shivering, his body shaking beneath the blankets.

As he watched, Ben attempted to open his eyes. He blinked sluggishly several times before he was able to pry them open and stare dazedly around.

"Hal?" he croaked out, eyes locking on him. Hal could see the confusion in his brother's unfocused eyes. "Wha—what's goin' on?"

"Hey," Hal soothed, his hand staying in place where it had migrated back to his forehead. "Just take it easy, 'kay? You've had a rough night." Hal's hand shifted and moved atop his head, his fingers threading their way through the short strands of his sandy hair.

"A rough night?" Ben queried, his voice cracking on the last word which caused him to fall into a fit of coughs. "Wha—what happened?" he stammered out once he managed to get his breath back. He attempted to sit up, only to fall back again as the world spun around him. Moaning, the young fighter closed his eyes and tried to fight against the rapidly rising nausea.

"You've been out almost a day," Hal explained, lifting a plastic up filled with water and indicated for Ben to take a sip. Hal reached out and helped his brother into a sitting position, making the boy lean back against the rolled up sleeping bag he was using as a pillow. When he was upright enough that he wouldn't choke, Ben swallowed a few gulps before it became too much and he pushed the cup back towards his brother.

"You really scared me, you know…" Hal admitted in a quiet voice, eyes downcast. "One minute you were talking to Dai about something ridiculous and the thing I hear is Dai screaming your name and I look over to see you on the ground, not moving."

"You've been here all night?" Ben frowned, his eyes beginning to slip closed again as his energy waned.

"Yeah," Hal responded. He'd stayed up all night making sure Ben was okay. Even Anne had been worried. The fever had come on board so quickly and so severely that it made them wonder if it had something to do with the spikes in his back. As it was, his fever had risen to 103 sometime around 2 AM before breaking some hours later.

He'd spend the entire night placing cold cloths on his brother's forehead, trying to get his temperature down. Matt had been sleeping in a cot nearby, not wanting to leave Ben. The nine-year-old had almost been hysterical when they'd brought Ben back unconscious. Their father leaving had taken its toll on all of them.

Hal had been given a lot of time to think while he was watching over Ben the night before. It had only been six weeks since their dad had vanished and to be honest, Hal was at the end of his rope. He'd been trying so hard to fill the void left by Tom and it wasn't an easy job. Matt was upset a lot of the time. He _was_ only a child after all.

Ben had taken it pretty hard. He blamed himself for their father leaving. And then coupled with the episode a few weeks back… the young teenager had been pretty unstable. Hal knew he missed their mom desperately and Hal had been doing all he could to help his brother with everything, but there was only so much he could do.

He was exhausted.

He wasn't supposed to be a surrogate mother and father, as well as an older brother.

But last night had called for him to step into the 'father' role. It wasn't a secret that Ben suffered from nightmares. And as he found out last night; fevers made them much, much worse. Hal had stayed with his brother, soothing him when the nightmares got too bad. He doubted Ben would ever remember it, but Hal sure would.

"Hal?"

Breaking out of his thoughts, Hal looked to his brother. "Yeah?"

"Get some sleep," was the hoarse command. "You look… like shit." Ben's eyelids were dropping. They would almost close before snapping back open again. The kid was in desperate need for some more sleep, but he was fighting it.

Hal didn't answer. Instead he sat beside his brother and watched as he succumbed to the approaching sleepiness. He placed his hand back on his forehead, sighing in relief when he didn't feel as warm as he had earlier. Whatever it was that he got, it was going away just as fast as he got it.

It wasn't until he was absolutely sure that Ben was asleep that Hal let himself rest his arms on his brother's stretcher bed.

"I'll always be here for you, Ben. I'll never leave you. I promise."

He leaned his head on his arms and closed his eyes. It wasn't long before he too was asleep.

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Captain Weaver watched on as Hal Mason fell asleep at his brother's bedside. Ben had scared a lot of people the day before when he had collapsed. The boy didn't seem to realize just how many people cared about him.

Now, both the sick boy and his older brother were fast asleep. Hal had stayed up all night playing the father role to his brother. Weaver wasn't stupid. He knew how hard all this was on Hal; knew how hard he was trying to keep up the act. But the teenager had his own problems too; it wasn't up to him to fix everything, no matter how much he thought it was his duty.

"Thanks for everything, Hal," Ben mumbled, half awake. "I'll protect and look after you too. I promise."

And Weaver noted that the kid kept his promise. Two days later, Hal collapsed from sheer exhaustion; having been running around after Matt, making sure Ben was healthy and still doing all of his duties in the Second Mass.

This time Weaver walked into the Mason tent and found Hal asleep in the bed and Ben falling asleep watching over his older brother. Matt was curled up in the corner, tucked in neatly.

Hal may have taken over the role as 'father', but there was no doubt in Weaver's mind that those boys would do anything for each other.

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Okay, so the ending shifted from the 'father' theme to more of a 'family' theme, but I think it worked… I hope you all enjoyed the second ficlet! Please review :)


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